sorry, this is a bit epic... 
i had a gp appointment on my due date - 25.02.08 - to check my bp as it had been creeping up over the previous 2 weeks... so on monday morning i duly went to the surgery only to be sent on down to the day assessment unit at the hospital for the 2nd time in a week to be monitored there. i was completely asymptomatic otherwise and felt quite frustrated when induction and c-sections started being mentioned.
i had a sweep (OMG, they hurt!) but nothing much was happening - my cervix was soft and favourable, but also high and closed.
i was asked if i'd agree to being induced, which i did (albeit in a slight state of shock that i was actually gonna meet my baby v soon) cos i figured that the doctors knew best.
in retrospect, i think they were covering their backs in case my high bp became something more - i think i would have been ok on my own personally. but by the same token i would never have forgiven myself if something had gone wrong.
anyway.
i was told to go home and get some dinner, then call the delivery ward early that evening (still monday) to see if they could fit me in.
i called, and they could. so OH and i went down to the hospital and i was given a room - after initial checks on me and trog were completed; i had my first prostin pessary at 11pm and was told to get some sleep. OH was allowed to stay with me and i've never been more grateful to him.
at 6am on tuesday i was examined again, and the first prostin hadn't really done much. so i was given a 2nd and another sweep. urgh.
still nothing much happened, and apart from bp checks and being wired up to the ctg for a few hours here and there, i was pretty much left alone. at lunchtime i was given another sweep with potential of breaking my waters, but i was only 1cm dilated and it wasn't happening...
OH went to the pub, i went for a walk in the hospital grounds in the sunshine, and we generally felt a bit fraudulent for taking up a room in the labour ward!
by tuesday evening, i was getting period-type pains and lower back ache, but nothing that even warranted a paracetamol.
after the required 12 hour gap from the 1st 2 prostin, i was given a 3rd and left on the ctg for the evening.
the period-type pains were actually mild contractions, and the 3rd prostin started to bring them on a little stronger. but still nothing to write home about.
now, here's where it starts to get a little hazy... on weds morning i had breakfast and was feeling the contractions more strongly, but they were still quite irregular. i was wired to the ctg almost permanently, which made the pain (or what i thought was pain at the time) harder to deal with.
i was examined again and, this time, the midwife managed to break my waters. messy!
but an hour later, my contractions weren't really any different and i was hooked up to the syntocinon drip.
i was gutted when it got to lunchtime cos the trolley lady forgot me. so i'd only had a bowl of cornflakes and a brunch bar that morning - i live to eat and was sooo upset when i wasn't allowed anything else to eat in case my induction resulted in a c-section... my syntocinon levels had also been cranked right up. i didn't like the thought of starting established labour on an empty stomach
i was asked how i felt about pain relief and at this point, i still wanted to stick to a semblance of my birth plan (originally water birth, entonox, as natural as possible etc... LMAO in retrospect!) so i only had paracetamol and my tens machine - completely recommend the latter in the early stages.
i graduated to gas and air later in the afternoon - its at this point that i can't really remember an awful lot though. the contractions quickly built up so that they were happening every 2 to 2.5 minutes, with less than a minute between each one. at the first examination after being put on the drip, i remember being devastated that, despite the pain from the contractions, i was still only 2cm dilated.
early on wednesday evening i was starting to climb the walls with pain. i asked for pethidine (retrospect is a wonderful thing, but that stuff is evil and there's a good reason i'd not wanted to have it when i wrote my birth plan...) - i was hoping it would help me to relax and sleep. but actually it made me completely out of it and unable to deal with the pain at all - which just kept getting worse. the hardest thing to deal with was the lack of time i had to recover in between contractions. poor OH found it very difficult to look after me - i just lay and groaned almost constantly, and couldn't even get my head together enough to say a word, never mind string a sentence together. i also managed to projectile vomit all over myself, the bed and half the room
at one point, OH's parents turned up on the ward! if i could have spoken, there would have been some choice words!!
they knew full well that i didn't want anyone there, and rather than being supportive to OH, it just made it harder for him knowing how i felt and having to tell them to go away... ggrr... it was a 3 hour round trip for them as well...!! 
it got to about 10pm and i couldn't 'cope' (if that's what you call what i was doing
) any more so asked for an epidural. the first dose was quite low but still blissful - it did mean that i was labouring under the influence of entonox, pethidine and epidural drugs all at once though!! visions of my birth plan flashed in front of my eyes and i would have laughed if i could...
the epidural was topped up half an hour later and finally all the pain just melted away. i was so tired by this point (and still really hungry from missing lunch and dinner!) that i dosed off. the midwife stayed with me and OH in the room until about 0130 (thursday) when she examined me and said 'not long now' - i've never felt so grateful! she told us both to get some more sleep and that she was going for her break and would be back in an hour or so.
there was a sensation a bit like i had a watermelon lodged in my vagina, but my legs were on pillows and i couldn't really feel a thing, so OH and i both obediently fell asleep. at 0325 the midwife came back in and it was so calm and peaceful in the room. the lights stayed really low and she said 'you might want to wake your husband now, you're ready to push'. i'd got some feeling back in my legs but still couldn't feel the contractions at all. so just pushed as hard as i possibly could every time i was told.
20 minutes later the midwife told me that i was starting to crown, but on the next push, there was the most almighty popping sound (scared the life out of me
) and our baby literally shot out across the bed.
OH says that i just looked completely astonished!
he's the most amazing little boy though. OH and i are so besotted.
its been really hard since he's been born though. despite the brilliant treatment on the labour ward, the post-natal ward was awful and, after pushing for it, i was discharged on thursday evening. being at home was infinitely preferable to staying there. we're really struggling with feeding - the community midwives are being great, but 4 days later it hasn't got any easier.
i know they say that you forget the pain of childbirth, but i will never, ever forget mine!! but by the same token, and despite all the problems we've had since too, it was all more than worth it. i'd go through it all again a million times for my little boy.
i had a gp appointment on my due date - 25.02.08 - to check my bp as it had been creeping up over the previous 2 weeks... so on monday morning i duly went to the surgery only to be sent on down to the day assessment unit at the hospital for the 2nd time in a week to be monitored there. i was completely asymptomatic otherwise and felt quite frustrated when induction and c-sections started being mentioned.
i had a sweep (OMG, they hurt!) but nothing much was happening - my cervix was soft and favourable, but also high and closed.
i was asked if i'd agree to being induced, which i did (albeit in a slight state of shock that i was actually gonna meet my baby v soon) cos i figured that the doctors knew best.
in retrospect, i think they were covering their backs in case my high bp became something more - i think i would have been ok on my own personally. but by the same token i would never have forgiven myself if something had gone wrong.
anyway.
i was told to go home and get some dinner, then call the delivery ward early that evening (still monday) to see if they could fit me in.
i called, and they could. so OH and i went down to the hospital and i was given a room - after initial checks on me and trog were completed; i had my first prostin pessary at 11pm and was told to get some sleep. OH was allowed to stay with me and i've never been more grateful to him.
at 6am on tuesday i was examined again, and the first prostin hadn't really done much. so i was given a 2nd and another sweep. urgh.
still nothing much happened, and apart from bp checks and being wired up to the ctg for a few hours here and there, i was pretty much left alone. at lunchtime i was given another sweep with potential of breaking my waters, but i was only 1cm dilated and it wasn't happening...
OH went to the pub, i went for a walk in the hospital grounds in the sunshine, and we generally felt a bit fraudulent for taking up a room in the labour ward!
by tuesday evening, i was getting period-type pains and lower back ache, but nothing that even warranted a paracetamol.
after the required 12 hour gap from the 1st 2 prostin, i was given a 3rd and left on the ctg for the evening.
the period-type pains were actually mild contractions, and the 3rd prostin started to bring them on a little stronger. but still nothing to write home about.
now, here's where it starts to get a little hazy... on weds morning i had breakfast and was feeling the contractions more strongly, but they were still quite irregular. i was wired to the ctg almost permanently, which made the pain (or what i thought was pain at the time) harder to deal with.
i was examined again and, this time, the midwife managed to break my waters. messy!
but an hour later, my contractions weren't really any different and i was hooked up to the syntocinon drip.
i was gutted when it got to lunchtime cos the trolley lady forgot me. so i'd only had a bowl of cornflakes and a brunch bar that morning - i live to eat and was sooo upset when i wasn't allowed anything else to eat in case my induction resulted in a c-section... my syntocinon levels had also been cranked right up. i didn't like the thought of starting established labour on an empty stomach
i was asked how i felt about pain relief and at this point, i still wanted to stick to a semblance of my birth plan (originally water birth, entonox, as natural as possible etc... LMAO in retrospect!) so i only had paracetamol and my tens machine - completely recommend the latter in the early stages.
i graduated to gas and air later in the afternoon - its at this point that i can't really remember an awful lot though. the contractions quickly built up so that they were happening every 2 to 2.5 minutes, with less than a minute between each one. at the first examination after being put on the drip, i remember being devastated that, despite the pain from the contractions, i was still only 2cm dilated.
early on wednesday evening i was starting to climb the walls with pain. i asked for pethidine (retrospect is a wonderful thing, but that stuff is evil and there's a good reason i'd not wanted to have it when i wrote my birth plan...
) - i was hoping it would help me to relax and sleep. but actually it made me completely out of it and unable to deal with the pain at all - which just kept getting worse. the hardest thing to deal with was the lack of time i had to recover in between contractions. poor OH found it very difficult to look after me - i just lay and groaned almost constantly, and couldn't even get my head together enough to say a word, never mind string a sentence together. i also managed to projectile vomit all over myself, the bed and half the room at one point, OH's parents turned up on the ward! if i could have spoken, there would have been some choice words!!
they knew full well that i didn't want anyone there, and rather than being supportive to OH, it just made it harder for him knowing how i felt and having to tell them to go away... ggrr... it was a 3 hour round trip for them as well...!! it got to about 10pm and i couldn't 'cope' (if that's what you call what i was doing
) any more so asked for an epidural. the first dose was quite low but still blissful - it did mean that i was labouring under the influence of entonox, pethidine and epidural drugs all at once though!! visions of my birth plan flashed in front of my eyes and i would have laughed if i could...the epidural was topped up half an hour later and finally all the pain just melted away. i was so tired by this point (and still really hungry from missing lunch and dinner!) that i dosed off. the midwife stayed with me and OH in the room until about 0130 (thursday) when she examined me and said 'not long now' - i've never felt so grateful! she told us both to get some more sleep and that she was going for her break and would be back in an hour or so.
there was a sensation a bit like i had a watermelon lodged in my vagina, but my legs were on pillows and i couldn't really feel a thing, so OH and i both obediently fell asleep. at 0325 the midwife came back in and it was so calm and peaceful in the room. the lights stayed really low and she said 'you might want to wake your husband now, you're ready to push'. i'd got some feeling back in my legs but still couldn't feel the contractions at all. so just pushed as hard as i possibly could every time i was told.
20 minutes later the midwife told me that i was starting to crown, but on the next push, there was the most almighty popping sound (scared the life out of me
) and our baby literally shot out across the bed.OH says that i just looked completely astonished!
he's the most amazing little boy though. OH and i are so besotted.
its been really hard since he's been born though. despite the brilliant treatment on the labour ward, the post-natal ward was awful and, after pushing for it, i was discharged on thursday evening. being at home was infinitely preferable to staying there. we're really struggling with feeding - the community midwives are being great, but 4 days later it hasn't got any easier.
i know they say that you forget the pain of childbirth, but i will never, ever forget mine!! but by the same token, and despite all the problems we've had since too, it was all more than worth it. i'd go through it all again a million times for my little boy.
